The once young populations of Pacific Island countries are now ageing rapidly. In Fiji, the number of persons aged 60 years and above is expected to triple between now and 2050. This change in population structure will mean increased demand for health care services and Fiji’s health system will need to adapt to ensure it best supports older adults’ health care needs. A new report aims to help policy makers know what’s required.

Health concerns linked to ageing include declines in mobility, sensory and cognitive function, and an increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease. These all create significant challenges for under-resourced health care delivery systems.

In Fiji, the ability of health system planners to guide appropriate and effective models of care to support healthy ageing has been hindered by a lack of knowledge of what’s needed and what works for the care of older persons in the local context. To support the Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services and the Fiji National Council for Older Persons to identify opportunities to improve the health and wellbeing of older Fijians, we undertook an assessment of national health policy, programs and services strengthening needs to support healthy ageing – the Healthy Ageing Fiji study, a first of its kind in the area of ageing in the Pacific Islands.

Key findings include:

1. Despite the high (and growing) demand for health services in the older Fijian population overall, significant geographic and gender-based inequities in access to health care among older adults were evident: older men used health services notably more often than older women; older adults living in rural and maritime locations were less likely to access facility-based care than their urban counterparts; and older women living rurally were the least frequent users of facility-based health services
2. Informal family and community caregivers of older adults expressed a need for improved access to educational resources, training and basic health supplies to support their provision of care at home, and clearer pathways to referral and support services.
3. There was a noted absence of mechanisms to effectively drive a multi-sectoral response to population ageing. Although the Fiji National Council for Older Persons (active since 2012) holds a remit of strengthening multisectoral partnership and collaboration to enhance opportunities for healthy ageing for all Fijians, their impact has been hindered by limited political leadership on ageing policy issues, availability of practical context-appropriate models, tools and accountability frameworks to support implementation of multisectoral action, and an inability to mobilise the required financial and other resources to operationalise the national ageing policy framework.

The research informing this report was a joint effort by study investigators from the Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services, The Pacific Community, The George Institute for Global Health, Fiji National University and the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia.

Read the report here: Promoting evidence-based policies, programs and services for ageing and health in Fiji | The George Institute for Global Health

PhD candidates Anthony Paulo Sunjaya, Ashwani Kumar and Nipuna Cooray have won first prize in the UNSW Founders Peter Farrell Cup Research Category for their start-up idea, Healthgenics. All three work in different programs across the Institute - Anthony is a PhD candidate in the Respiratory Program, Ashwani is in the Critical Care Program and Nipuna in the Injury Program. Their winning idea – Healthgenics - is an innovative diabetes prevention initiative, now ready for clinical trial.

“Healthgenics is an actionable diabetes prevention program that is personalised and accessible to anyone, anywhere. It is packed with prescription of tailored medication and gamification features for better adherence and outcomes,” said Ashwani Kumar.

“As a doctor, it pains me to see that while diabetes prevention programs have been shown to reduce diabetes risk by half, they remain inaccessible to most people in the world. Furthermore, existing programs are time-consuming and have low user adherence,” said Anthony Sunjaya.

According to Nipuna Cooray, “Our mission is to prevent diabetes from taking an unnecessary toll on millions of lives around the world. We plan to start a clinical validation study in the coming months.”

Following ten rigorous weeks of ‘start-up bootcamp’, our researchers emerged as finalists and won the A$8000 top prize in the Research category, beating intense competition on the final pitch night. The bootcamp encompassed the entire process from distilling a business idea to a one-page ‘lean canvas’, to finding product-market fit and finally, pitching.

The Peter Farrell Cup (PFC), now in its 22nd year, is a prestigious competitive ideas program run by UNSW Founders that supports the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs and start-ups.

“I’ve been to many of these pitch sessions, and tonight was just amazing,” declared Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs, who served as a judge alongside UNSW Founders Entrepreneur-in-Residence Gary Zammel and Frances Atkins, Co-Founder and Director of Givvable (10x & New Wave). 

Innovation is a critical part of The George Institute’s mission. Genovate - the Institute’s innovation and entrepreneurship program - facilitates the translation of research from ideation and product development to commercialisation and market success. Genovate delivers a range of programs that develop capacity in health-tech and supports start-ups whose innovations address non-communicable diseases in under-served markets. One of these programs is Health10x, a start-up accelerator delivered in partnership with UNSW Founders, that supports health start-ups as they work to meet health needs in vulnerable communities.

See the full list of winners

“As someone who was focused on clinical research, it was extremely valuable to see how research is used to develop technology that can be scaled up to address key health concerns,” says Cyril Saji, a third-year medical student at James Cook University, who has just completed his internship with Genovate. Genovate is The George Institute’s innovation and entrepreneurship program.

The Genovate internship program was started in 2020 to provide a launchpad to early career researchers and those interested in health innovation by providing hands-on project experience to solve real world problems. Cyril is the program’s seventh intern to date to have completed a 3-month placement with Genovate. Like his peers, he believes the program filled a gap that many medical students face in the industry.

“As a medical student, it is rare to find opportunities to look at healthcare beyond the clinical context – this internship gave me the chance to develop my knowledge of health innovation, technology and commercialisation and truly encouraged innovative thought and critical analysis - skills which are imperative to being an effective clinician,” he says.

The Genovate internship gives the candidate an opportunity to work on a project spanning the wide ambit of The George Institute’s portfolio. This can range from the Women’s Health Program to Injury Prevention. Collaborating with a cross-functional team provides the interns with an opportunity to develop diverse skills sets and subject knowledge.

Cyril worked within the Institute’s Global Brain Health Initiative where he co-developed a scoping review on 'New Technology Needs in Brain Health', focusing on technology to support post-stroke rehabilitation.

“This project was a wonderful opportunity to understand the scientific, regulatory and commercial aspects of technology development and investment,” he says.

James Bradley, who has just started the Genovate internship, is also working on a project within the Global Brain Health Initiative. James is a fifth-year student at the University of New South Wales, undertaking a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Science double degree. His passion is applying machine learning to solve medical problems.

He says, “I'm currently working on the Deep Learning and Brain Imaging Project, where we are trying to develop a system to automatically segment haemorrhages in the brain from a CT scan. Usually, this is done manually by a radiologist or neurologist by directly outlining bleeds in a scan. Being able to detect haemorrhages quickly and measure their volume accurately is crucial in stroke patient management and clinical trials. Therefore, the ability to automate this process can have a significant impact on patient outcomes.”

The George Institute’s recently established Global Brain Health Initiative, under which both Cyril and James have worked, aims to tackle the serious issue of brain health and enable people to live better for longer. The progressive ageing of the world’s population is associated with a steady increase in age-related diseases including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The Global Brain Health Initiative is focused on developing innovative solutions to address these challenges, maintain healthy brain function throughout life and help improve the health of millions of people around the world. The Genovate program supports this mission.

As Cyril says, “Though health innovation is often pioneered and most accessible to the most privileged in society, it plays a vital role in supporting the delivery of care for socio-economically disadvantaged and low-resource communities and can be pivotal in addressing health crises in the future.”

James adds, “I believe that the whole point of technology is to make the world a better place - this is a philosophy which The George Institute demonstrates on a day-to-day basis, making us a good match. Hence, being able to synergise my natural curiosity in this kind of technology with the ability to improve health care, made joining the Global Brain Health Initiative a no-brainer!”

“I would definitely recommend the internship to others who want to use technology for a larger cause – to potentially improve the health of millions of people around the world.”

Find out more about the Genovate program and internship here.